Adjustable outfeed assembly for stationery burster

ABSTRACT

A stacking tray for use with a stationery burster, the stacking tray having a fixed medial portion flanked by portions movable with respect to the remainder thereof to accommodate uneven marginal areas of stationery dispensed thereon.

United States Patent Howard K. Absler Skokie;

Leonard M. Narel, Cary, 1ll. 862,538

May 2, 1969 May 11, 1971 Uareo Incorporated Division of Ser. No. 645,262, June 12, 1967, Pat. No. 3,493,156.

Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee- ADJUSTABLE OUTFEED ASSEMBLY FOR STATIONERY BURSTER 3 Claims, 3 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. 211/50 Int. Cl. A471 7/00 Field of Search 211/49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55

Primary ExaminerNile C. Byers, Jr. Attorney--Hofgren, Wegner, Allen, Stellman and McCord ABSTRACT: A stacking tray for use with a stationery burster, the stacking tray having a fixed medial portion flanked by portions movable with respect to the remainder thereof to accommodate uneven marginal areas of stationery dispensed thereon.

- BURS'I'ER This is a division of application Ser. No. 645,262, filed June 12, l967,now US. Pat. No. 3,493,156.

' BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to business machines and more particularly to a stacking tray for use with an apparatus for bursting stationery into individual form lengths along transverse lines of weakening.

2. Description of the Prior Art Generally devices for separating continuous form stationery along transverse lines of weakening have three sets of rollers including an infeed set of rollers for initially feeding the stationery into the mechanism; a movable set of rollers, and a fixed set of outfeed rollers which is driven at a faster rate of speed than the movable set of rollers. The movable set of rollers is adjusted with respect to the fixed outfeed rollers depending upon the dimension of the individual form length which is being separated. A typical example of such a structure is that shown in Pine et al. US. Pat. No. 3,161,335 issued Dec. 15,1964.

From the outfeed set of rollers, the separated stationery form length may be ejected onto a stacking table as shown in the aforementioned Pine patent or onto a movable stacking surface as shown in the Peterson et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,261,603 issued July 19, 1966. One of the problems of stacking individual form lengths of continuous form stationery on a tablelike surface is that the marginal areas stack thicker than do the central portions thereof .due to marginal glue lines com- ADJUSTABLE ourrr-zr-zn ASSEMBLY FOR STATIONERY motor 26 controlled by switches 26a is mounted in the framing 28 which is enclosed by'a generally boxlike decorative housing 30.

Drive components include a main drive belt 32 which is driven by the motor 26 and is reeved about a pulley 34 having mon with such fomrs. When stationery does stack unevenly it is prone to spillage and disarray which may result in the loss of consecutive order of the sheets and loss of time in rearranging the stack.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION form stationery into individual form lengths along transverse lines of weakening.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of the burster of this invention with portions broken away illustrating part of I the drive system thereof;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged end view of the stacking tray connected to the rear of the burster; and

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of the stacking tray shown in FIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT the burster is to separate the continuous form stationery along transverse lines of weakening into individual form lengths 12a. For this purpose, the burster includes an infeed roller assembly 18, for feeding stationery into the burster; a movable burster roller assembly 20, having tension means 20a; and outfeed roller assembly 22 which is driven at a faster rate of speed than the movable burster roller assembly 20 for separating the form lengths along lines of weakening with the assistance of the initiation of the tearing action by the tension means 20a; In general, this type of structure and theory of operation is well known in the art and is typically represented by the Pine et al. US. Pat. No. 3,161,335. 1

In addition, the burster may be provided with other stationery processing means such as a trimmer assembly 24 intera reduced pulley portion 34a. The pulley 34 isv fixed on the main shaft of the roller assembly 22 and, through related drive structure on the other side of the bursters (not shown), the components of roller assembly 20 and trimmer mechanism 24 are also driven. The burster may further include a paper receiving surface beyondroller assembly 22, shown in dotted outline in FIG. 1, for carrying separated stationery sheets to a point for deposit on stacking tray assembly 212. It is also possible that the tray assembly 212 could be mounted directly adjacent the roller assembly 22 for direct receipt of separated form lengths.

Tray assembly 212 of this invention is fixed to a carriage 208 and includes a frame 214 including a front wall 2140, a rear wall 214b and sidewalls 214c and 214d which are spanned by a top surface 2I4e. The outfeed tray includes a relatively wide,.rigid U-shaped central support 216 which extends upwardly from the front wall 214a and the rear wall 2l4b and span the distance therebetween. A plurality of U-shaped paper support bars 218 including central support surface 218a and upright end sections 2181: and 2l8c are pivotally mounted to the frameof the tray assembly by means of intumed ends 218d and 218a being received in openings 220 formed in the front and rear walls 214a and 214b. The bars are frictionally related to the openings 220 so as to permit the bars to be moved from an upright or supporting position to a downwardly folded or retracted position as shown in dotted outline in FIG. 3.

Frequently continuous form stationery may have marginal areas which tend to have a greater thickness due to the presence of crimp fastening elements, glue lines, or the like. This is especially true in the case of multiple ply forms and particularly more so in the case of those forms which have not been submitted to a trimming operation. In such a case, the stack of burst forms is thicker at the opposite marginal edges. Unless compensated for, the stack assumes an upwardly bowed configuration and is difficult to handle. Frequently it may slip out of an attendant's hands and fall into general disarray and out of sequential order. By mounting the paper support bars 218 for movement between an upright position to a retracted position, a means is provided for accommodating marginal thicknesses in stationery. More particularly, if the bars are folded downwardly as indicated in dotted outline in FIG. 3, the marginal areas of stationery which may be stacked on the tray assembly 214 may droop downwardly. Thus several hundred 'plies of stationery may be stacked one on top of the other on the tray assembly before the marginal edges of even multiple ply or crimp fastened forms which have not had the margins removed begin to adopt an upwardly bowed configuration. Prior to that time, the several hundred forms may be removed from the tray assembly safely without the possibility of spillage or disarray thereof. By providing several of separated form lengths throughout a wide range of speeds from very low to very high speed operation. While the term,- burster" has been used throughout to refer to a mechanism for separating continuous form stationery, and the invention herein has been described for use with a burster," it is to be understood that the invention is generally capable of use with any mechanism' which separates continuous stationery into individual form lengths.

The foregoing detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only, and no unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom, as some modifications may be obvious to those skilled in the art.

We claim:

I. A stacking tray for the outfeed assembly of a burster comprising: a stacking tray frame; a medially disposed paper receiving member connected to said frame and including a paper receiving surface lying in a plane spaced outwardly from said frame and movable members on either side of said medial member, said movable members being connected to said frame for movement between a position wherein the movable 'membersgenerally lie in the plane of the paper receiving member andother positions wherein said movable members lie between said plane of said paper receiving member and the frame, whereby marginal areas of separated form lengths received thereon are permitted to droop relative to the central areas thereof.

2. A stacking tray for the outfeed assembly of a burster, comprising: a frame; a stationery receiving surface on said frame, portions of said stationery receiving surface being movable with respect to the remaining portions; said movable portions being laterally spaced on opposite sides of the central portion and pivoted to the frame for movement between an upright paper supporting position and a retracted position permitting marginal droop of stationery stacked on the tray, to thereby absorb marginal thicknesses in separated stationery stacked on the tray.

3. The stacking tray of claim 1 wherein said movable members are generally C-shaped members having a top and depending sides with the sides terminating in end portions, and wherein the frame has a plurality of spaced openings for movably receiving the end portions of the movable members. 

1. A stacking tray for the outfeed assembly of a burster comprising: a stacking tray frame; a medially disposed paper receiving member connected to said frame and including a paper receiving surface lying in a plane spaced outwardly from said frame and movable members on either side of said medial member, said movable members being connected to said frame for movement between a position wherein the movable members generally lie in the plane of the paper receiving member and other positions wherein said movable members lie between said plane of said paper receiving member and the frame, whereby marginal areas of separated form lengths received thereon are permitted to droop relative to the central areas thereof.
 2. A stacking tray for the outfeed assembly of a burster, comprising: a frame; a stationery receiving surface on said frame, portions of said stationery receiving surface being movable with respect to the remaining portions; said movable portions being laterally spaced on opposite sides of the central portion and pivoted to the frame for movement between an upright paper supporting position and a retracted position permitting marginal droop of stationery stacked on the tray, to thereby absorb marginal thicknesses in separated stationery stacked on the tray.
 3. The stacking tray of claim 1 wherein said movable members are generally C-shaped members having a top and depending sides with the sides terminating in end portions, and wherein the frame has a plurality of spaced openings for movably receiving the end portions of the movable members. 